Combination: kangaroo court (antedating 1841 August 24)

[George Thompson]

Barry's list of supporting citations establishes that the OED's definition misses one form of kangaroo court -- a joke tribunal among friends or teammates leyying small fines for infractions of the proper way of doing things.
If I recall correctly, Mariano Rivera is the judge of the Kangaroo Court in the Yankees clubhouse.

27 July 1850, Spirit of the Times, pg. 269:
DRAFTS AT SIGHT ON THE SOUTH-WEST.
TERM-TIME IN THE BACKWOODS, AND A MESTANG COURT.
(...)
By unanimous vote, Judge G--, the fattest and funniest of the assembly—was elected to the bench, and the “Mestang” or “Kangaroo Court” regularly organized. Impossible as it would be for any one to convey to the reader a correct idea of the ludicrous and supremely ridiculous scene which ensued, I will yet attempt it.
(...)

The OED's definition covers only courts handing out grim justice in a lawless situation:
"kangaroo court orig. U.S., an improperly constituted court having no legal standing, e.g. one held by strikers, mutineers, prisoners, etc."

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
Date: Thursday, June 24, 2010 12:49 pm
Subject: Re: Combination: kangaroo court (antedating 1841 August 24)
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

> The 1841 cite I posted is already known. Barry Popik found it and
> posted it at his important website The Big Apple. Here is the link to
> his research on the term "kangaroo court". Apologies to Barry and list
> members for missing it:
>
> http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/kangaroo_court/
>
> The text of the Daily Picayune story suggests there is an article
> using the term "kangaroo court" in June, July, or August of 1941 in
> the Concordia Intelligencer. There is a searchable digital copy of the
> June 16, 1841 Concordia Intelligencer at the LOUISiana Digital
> Library. But I could not find "kangaroo" in that issue. Here is a
> link:
>
> http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/LSU_LNP&CISOPTR=242&REC=16
>
> The Chronicling America website has a list of libraries that have the
> newspaper Concordia Intelligencer.
>
> http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016573/holdings/
>
> Very few libraries have coverage in the relevant months of 1941. These
> two institutions might:
> Center For Res Libr, Newsp Proj, Chicago, IL
> Tulane Univ, New Orleans, LA
>
> On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 12:05 AM, Garson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Combination: kangaroo court (antedating 1841 August 24)
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > OED (1989) kangaroo, n. 4. b. Special combs. kangaroo court
> >
> > The first citation given in the OED is 1853 'P. PAXTON' Stray Yankee
> in Texas.
> >
> > The ADS list archive has several citations. The earliest seems to be
> > 1849 January 12 (reprinting an article dated of 1948 December 1).
> >
> > Here is a newspaper article from 1841. The author is reprinting
> > information from another newspaper, and the piece ends with a question
> > asking about the term "Kangaroo court".
> >
> > Cite: 1841 August 24, The Daily Picayune (Times-Picayune), Don't
> > Comprehend, Page 2, Column 5, New Orleans, Louisiana. (GenealogyBank)
> >
> > DON'T COMPREHEND.--The Concordia Intel-
> > ligencer says "several loafers were lynched in
> > Natchez last week upon various charges insti-
> > tuted by the Kangaroo court. The times grow
> > warm; we can see another storm coming, not
> > unlike that which prevailed in the days of the
> > Murrel excitement. In Natchez, as in New
> > Orleans, they are driving away all of the free
> > negroes." What is a Kangaroo court, neigh-
> > bor?
> >
> > (Errors in transcription are possible. Please check original documents
> > or scans. The word "Murrel" might be "Marrel".)
> >
> > The Chronicling America website has some information about the
> > publication mentioned but it is not available in the online full-text
> > Chronicling America database.
> >
> > Title: Concordia intelligencer. : (Vidalia, Parish of Concordia,
> La.) 1841-187?
> > Place of publication: Vidalia, Parish of Concordia, La.
> > Publisher:  C.S. Smith
> > Dates of publication: 1841-187?
> > Description: Vol. 1, no. 1 (June 16, 1841)-
> >
> > Based on this date of inception the original story appeared in June,
> > July, or August of 1941 in the Concordia Intelligencer.
> >
> > Garson
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
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